NINJAS!

Beware! The Ninjas are everywhere!

I have put together a comprehensive list of sites giving what glimpse we have into the world of ninjas.

Ninja Ropes
Ask a Ninja
Xiao Xiao

That's it. Kind of mysterious, ninja...

How well does college prepare you for the real world?

Nature abhors a vacuum

Objects floating in water experience buoyancy. Buoyancy is the name of the force opposing a boat's will to sink. When an object is immersed in water, it displaces water. If the weight of the water is more than the weight of the object, the object will be forced upward. This force is buoyancy.

If a wine cork were completely submerged under water, it would float back to the top of the water to a point of equilibrium--between the water and the air. Corks are able, because of their material, to displace their weight in water with just a portion of their volume. The remaining part of the cork stays above the water level. If you added weight to the cork, it would float lower in the water.



Balloons float in the air because of buoyancy. They displace air. If the weight of the air that they are displacing is heavier than the weight of the balloon, the balloon will rise to a level of equilibrium (where the weight of air displaced is EQUAL to the weight of the balloon.)

Some balloons are filled with helium gas. They float because the atoms of helium are lighter than the atoms of air (Nitrogen, Oxygen, Carbon dioxide, etc.). Some balloons are filled with hot air. Hot air molecules move faster and take up more space than cold air molecules (a lighter amount of air can take up the same amount of space as a heavier amount of air) so the hot air balloon is forced upwards.

Hot air balloon beside a helium balloon


With this in mind, I would like to propose...The Vacuum Balloon. This would be a balloon shape filled with nothing...no helium, no hot-air. The only weight would be the skin of the balloon.

The problem I'm finding is that if the air is pumped out of an object, outside air pressure forces the object to collapse! Any ideas?

Snow!

My college Weather ("Atmospheric Environment") teacher used to rave that we are on the verge of a new ice age. Prof. Quinn told us about Milankovitch cycles that predicted we are about a hundred years overdue for a Glacial period.

It hasn't happened, some think, because 'global warming' is combating it. However, heating up the earth might serve to send us into intense climate change--according to Prof. Quinn. Not like "The Day After Tomorrow" would have you thinking, but following the same principles (and much more slowly).
:>)
Here's a picture of us out sledding around Spokane on Dec. 18th (record snowfall!).

Oh my gosh!

There is a workshop with one of my ceramics heros, Beth Cavendish Stichter. I met her and found out about the workshop about 6 months ago. Unfortunately, I was expecting it would cost a lot less. I cannot afford the $800 to go. SIGH.

Tea Names

A few years ago Amanda and I compiled a list of catchy names for exotic tea blends on our refrigerator. It's tea weather outside so with no further ado...

TEA NAMES:

Feminini-tea

Masculini-tea

Frivoli-tea

Orangutanga-tea

Personali-tea

Aargh-Me-May-Tea (for pirates)

Muss-tea

Fuss-tea

Min-tea

Pleasan-tea

Duss-tea

Gus-tea (cures flatulence)

Circulari-tea

Circulatori-tea

Thirs-tea

Angulari-tea

Feis-tea

Nice-i-tea

Reali-tea (bring you back down to earth)

Hipocri-tea

Anti-cavi-tea

Discontinui-tea

Naked Singulari-tea

Reverse Polari-tea

Populari-tea vs Ignomini-tea

Punctuali-tea

Ameni-tea

Hilari-tea

Truss-tea (just a truth serum)

Sani-tea

Insani-tea

Humpty Dump-tea

Nas-tea (it's GOOD for you)

Amnes-tea

Solidari-tea

Go-tea (grows hair on your chin)

Guaran-tea

Ampu-tea

2-tea Fru-tea

Saul-tea (salt-water brewed tea)

Abili-tea

Affini-tea

anti-sterili-tea

Utili-tea

Fragili-tea

Tranquili-tea

Versatili-tea

Docili-tea

Prehensili-tea

Believa-bili-tea

Duali-tea

Ameabili-tea (tea brewed with vodka instead of water)

Inevita-bili-tea

Get Dir-tea

Be Flir-tea

Devo-tea

Spontinai-tea

Authori-tea

Kinda Feis-tea

Self Pit-tea

Jimmy Duran-tea (helps dexteri-tea)

High Quali-tea

Sitting Prit-tea

Byoo-tea or Be-you-tea*

Frail-tea

Horn of Plen-tea

Down and Dir-tea

Vivaci-tea

Alacri-tea

Shades of Hypocri-tea

Tone-up-your-uterus Tea

Peppermin-tea

Inferiori-tea

Fertili-tea

God-All-my-Tea

Minori-tea

Virgini-tea


Happy Brewing.

Christ is Love

Memes are units of culture passed on from one person to the other. They are symbols, rules, ways of acting that make us who we are. Memes are the software that works on our human hardware. Example: kids will mimic behavior that strikes them as funny or interesting. This is the passing of a meme.

Sometimes memes are of a scope much larger than any one person could convey. Religions are a form of meme that has outgrown the individual. Since its inception, Christianity has been adapted and changed to maintain itself in the human consciousness (as have all other successful religions). It's current inception holds this basic belief worldwide: Christ is Love. Not the romantic kind, or just between friends, where the mutual benefits are obvious. This love transcends differences, and is between yourself and others whom you may or may not know.

I am not a big fan of the old testament as a way in which to live your life, nor much into prophecy. But the idea of 'love' overcoming all boundaries has practical applications in the modern world.

Discuss.